Lack of efficacy of ivermectin for prevention of a lethal Zika virus infection in a murine system

Abstract

The antihelminthic drug ivermectin has been demonstrated to have antiviral activity against the Zika virus and other arboviruses in in vitro studies. The effectiveness of ivermectin for Zika virus infection, however, has never been studied in an animal model. In this study, ivermectin was found to be ineffective for prevention of a lethal infection with the Senegal strain of Zika virus in Ifnar1 knockout mice. In view of several study limitations, evaluation of ivermectin's anti-Zika virus activity in other animal models and against other Zika virus strains would be desirable.